Monday, December 7, 2015

Hi All! This week's theme is "Old World Christmas" here at C.T., so here is my new "Joyeux Noel" old, European feeling submission, at I hope it feels European even apart from the caption en Francais.

I just finished this tonight. Seems to be a Greeting card design inspired by Victorian Christmas Cards and Vintage Fashion.

Her face is drawn with prismacolor pencil and the rest are hues from the new pigment marker collection by Winsor And Newton. These new markers blend vibrant colour well and I am enjoying playing with them.

As happens a fair amount I am visiting family so I'm updating from my phone. It is cold in New York. Also dark, a lot. I visit my family in New York fairly often and it's not like I'm not used to the weather of where I come from despite living in California now but for some reason the time change has hit me hard this year and continues to kind of be a struggle. Even in L.A. it being dark at five bummed me out, and of course in the East Coast the Sun tends to start going down closer to four or four thirty, so ... Anyhow. I am very very very tired (without getting into specifics I would super appreciate love, prayers, Internet Hugs, and Good Vibes as many big life things are happening in my life now), and wish I could say more, but hopefully my Holiday Card speaks for itself.

Anyway, you still have time to submit! I hope I did this right via Mobile. Click on the words below to go see other submissions and to submit yourself. You have some time still to submit by, on, the Tuesday September 8th due date!

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Here is "Black Cat," for Creative Tuesdays, and in celebration of Black Cat Day! I luckily have my own giant, live-in, fluffy art model, who I used as reference for this challenge.

I live with a thirty pound Black Cat. Who is shameless. He loves lying on his back for comfort, belly rubs, and overall being cute and ridiculous. He is so spoiled, he will actually swat at you if he wants to be petted and you ignore him. Anyway. I drew him and added a couch background, as well as a drawing of him within the drawing, because this is one of his very "Draw me like one of your French Girls," a la "Titanic," unfortunate yet shameless and adorable poses. I love this little big guy.

Also, as a special announcement. Black Cats and Dogs make wonderful pets! They are often the last to be adopted in shelters, and the first to be euthanized. If you ever need a pet, please consider getting one. I have known many noir furred friends, and they are always very sweet and loving. If you already have such a pet, as I do, even if they go outside sometimes, please keep them inside your house this week and on Halloween especially. People pull horrible pranks and worse on them at this time of year, and it is important to keep your fur babies safe and away from anyone who would do something mean and cruel to them.

Okay, rant over. Without further ado, I am typing out the link to submit to this C.T. Purrfect challenge! I apologize, ugh, posting from my phone which for some reason won't let me copy the exact link, or live link to Mr. Toast's blog. However, you can copy and paste the link below, go to the top entry labeled "Black Cat," and then submit your name and link in the linksy box:

www.creativetuesdays.blogspot.co.uk

Submit at that link, and you have until 6:00 PM Mountain Time today, the 28th of October:

Thank you as always Michael/Mister Toast. (-: I loved this challenge, and am glad to get the chance to immortalize my giant fluffy friend.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

I've got dancers, cats, Halloween, and Inktober on my brain, so, I decided for C.T. to draw a postage stamp design combining all of those things:

This postage stamp sketch/design costs two pawprint cents (is that a thing? that's not a thing) and has a gray/spooky feel for Halloween and October. All of the gray and black was drawn in ink, as I am trying to keep my art done in this medium given the #inktober challenges going on-- for anyone who doesn't know, it's to do an ink drawing every day in october. And finally, the main characters are a dancer girl and her kitty. Who apparently likes to swat/bat/hold down pieces of ribbon or string, so, she and her toeshoes are semi trapped for the moment.

I have never designed a postage stamp before, so, this was quite fun! And I liked trying to stick to a limited color palate, as I often use many many colors. The gray/black/white/pink limitations were fun and I think more appropriate with ballet as part of the theme.

So, everyone else who did something for this Creative Tuesdays challenge, please go sign up at Mister Toast's blog! Here's the link:

And for anyone else who might be on the Internet using Instagram, please feel free to follow me over there and also get inspired to do ink drawings daily for #Inktober! Mister Toast and Alex have been doing some really cool ones as well.

Hope you guys are all well! All my best and thanks again to everyone's kind words, and Michael's generosity, for the giveaway win last week ^_^ C.T. is a great community and it's really fun to look forward to checking in with a great group of virtual friends and artists each week for inspiration, encouragement, and seeing great artwork and ideas.

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

It's a totally handmade birthday card that I made. I just finished the card this morning, and this is a phone upload, so please forgive some slight color weirdness. I took the photo in sunlight and adjusted the levels back to what they look like in the original, as best I could from a mobile.

Anyway, birthday cards are great fun to give and receive, so the "gifting" story in this image is the girl, being gifted with surprise presents from her kitties. One a more normal kitty, and the other a flying kitten. I imagine in their backstory she rescued them, and thus, has also gifted them with love and a home and other goodies that humans give their animals when they adopt them :-D

(Silly and unrelated note, I made up a cartoon character a while ago called a "Flying Witty," which was a little round flying cat, so, here that character is again-- I wonder what is in the boxes, held in the paws of each different cat?).

I am barely getting this in on time! So without further ado, please follow the instructions below if you would like to enter this challenge, then go to the link below to see work, and/or submit work!

Thanks for reading and looking forward to seeing everybody's great gift work,

DonnaFrom Mister Toast's original blog post:

"I'm encouraging anyone who has ever joined C.T. in the past to sign up this time or anyone who has always considered it before but never got around to joining. Now is your chance, made all the more sweet by the opportunity to win this fabulous giveaway full of lovely gifts from a very hip new place in our town called The HEY DAY Store (instagram:@theheydaystore)! Can't wait to see your entries and find out too who will win. It's going to be exciting. As mentioned earlier, entries for the drawing are only for those who follow the CT guidelines and create a piece specifically for this theme of GIFTING — giving a gift to someone. How to enter the drawing:

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Hello, World! Below is my piece, "Alice in Cacti-Land," which I created this summer using Watercolour, Prismacolor Pencil, and Gouache.

Scroll below that, and you'll see some questions that I answered for Patience Brewster!

The team at Patience Brewster wrote me with a request to share about myself as an artist, as part of an ongoing project they are doing, reaching out to artists, asking them questions, and then re-sharing that information on their blog.

For those of you who don't know, Patience Brewster is an artist, who creates beautiful cards, ornaments, and figurines! She is also based in Plymouth Massachusetts, which I personally find really cool as I went on vacation there every summer up until the summer before third grade. My family and I stayed at a place called the John Carver Inn, and whenever we went to see the Old Town (with people dressed in the Pilgrim Costumes), I was in awe as a kid. Anyway, I haven't been there since I was seven, but, it was great to hear from an artist who is based out of Plymouth.

In any case, I had seen Patience's ornaments before, loved them, and not realized who had created them, so, it was really exciting to get a message from her team! And, it was very nice of them to invite me to answer some questions (it's pretty awesome they are looking to spread the word about fellow artists). After the interview-y section of this post, I am going to link to her site. The holidays will be here before you know it, so, please check her work out, particularly the Holiday stuff).Without further ado, here are some "About Me" questions, sent over by the Patience Brewster team:

1. As a child, do you recall a significant moment when you felt truly affected or inspired by any particular artwork or artist?

I remember when I saw the "Lion King," which is one of my favorite Disney movies. I also read the comic book versions of the film, and saw illustrations from the film, and I was blown away by the character designs, the settings, and the colors. I actually read the comic before I saw the movie (so I was spoiled), and I was stunned when the opening sequence of "Circle of Life" started. I actually started tearing up, because it was such a beautiful opening sequence, with color, celebration, and happiness, and I knew what was going to happen. But even through the sad parts of the film, before it came out with the hero being victorious at the end, I was totally gripped by the experience of watching it.

It was something with great dialogue (i.e. writing), character development, and artistic design, so it inspired me art and writing wise. I was inspired to draw characters because the characters were so lively, for good and evil, and I loved being immersed in that world. The idea of creating a world and characters where viewers and readers could be immersed in it was really inspiring.

Truth be told, I also share a bit of Simba's tendency to re-hash things, so. That movie has always meant a lot to me in terms of the lessons it taught (and still teaches me today), in addition to it being a visually stunning cartoon film and story,

2. As an artist, what do you hope to convey with your work?

I am a person who makes art with the belief that pictures can tell stories as strong, or stronger than, words. I love art that is narrative in nature, which is why I love comic books/graphic novels/sequential art. I also love when a single illustration can depict something funny, poignant, dark, or when the characters within the picture are memorable. I’ve always loved storytelling, and that is why I myself aim to create art/illustrations, cards, and comic which capture moments and tell larger stories.

3. What memorable responses have you had to your work?

There was a group show I participated in, in Los Angeles (where I am currently based; I split my time between there and my original hometown outside New York City), that was an anti-bullying themed show. It was curated by a young curator named Cooper Berella. At the time he was about twelve years old, and now he's already in high school, which is awesome! He is a great person, artist, and curator, and always has worked to put together art shows that are meaningful as well as fun.

The show was called "Stop it!," in reference to putting a stop to bullying. The painting I made was a cartoon-y, fantastical piece. It depicted a boy who was underwater, tearfully being bullied by one Octopus who was pulling apart one half of a broken heart, and another Octopus on the other side of the frame held the other hear'ts half. However, the boy had a friend-- a girl who was hugging him, and shielding him from being further hurt or bullied by the Octopi. The woman who bought the piece told me she really loved the illustration, and the storytelling with one character protecting the other character. She then told me it meant a great deal to her personally, as her son has Special Needs, and he worked one on one with an aide who was a great person, looked like the girl in the illustration, and sadly had passed away earlier that year. I was happy that the piece I created was able to speak to someone in a universal sense, as well as in a very personal sense, with the story it told.

When I've created comics and illustrations that are sadder in tone, it has meant a lot to me when people have told me that the stories really spoke to them, and that they felt for the characters in the story/image. When I create cheerier, more light-hearted, and punny works, such as illustrations or greeting cards-- especially with Koalas (I have one card featuring a girl having tea, with Koalas, and it says "You're a Friend of the Highest Koala-Tea," to give you an idea of my silliness)-- I've seen people laugh, and (happily) roll their eyes at some of the sillier jokes I've come up with, and it's fun to get people to loosen up and enjoy something that's silly and funny. I'm always happy when I can combine words and pictures, in a way that people are amused and entertained by.

Again, whether I am telling a tale that is serious or silly, I am always grateful when it speaks to my audience, and when people have responded to the story with empathy or laughter.

4. What is your dream project?

I definitely want to keep creating comics, art, illustration, and greeting cards. Also, I would love to create a children's book (something that I am working on), and perhaps even a long form comic. I have many ideas for character and stories, and since many of them involve animals, I'm looking to partner with different organizations where perhaps art or illustrations that I make could also be of use to them. It would be a lot of fun to have a cross-pollination project with an animal shelter/rescue group, a zoo (San Diego Zoo, for example, or any zoo that makes a point of being a conservation space and not merely a place where animals are improperly kept), or a group working with endangered species. As I've mentioned, I love Koalas, and they (as well as many other Australian animals) are threatened species. I would also at some point be interested in exploring how to create illustrations for licensing, patterns for fabric, and to explore many different ways of showing characters, stories, and images on many surfaces and mediums in addition to cards, art, and comics.

I've also become very interested in Cacti lately, and have some projects I'm working on with Cacti imagery, so, anything involving illustrating Succulents is something I'd enjoy.

Medium wise, with the exception of the two playwrights I listed, these creators are all those who work with ink, watercolor, etching/printmaking, ink and watercolor, or colored pencil, with some traditional oil painters thrown in.

I myself focused on oil painting in college (and it would be cool to explore it again, but, I don't have the proper ventilation for it where I work at home, and I also often work in cafes on the go). That said, I went to Goldsmith's College in London for half a year, where one of my tutors encouraged me to get into comics, so since then I've been more focused on ink, while sometimes also incorporating ink and watercolor slash gouache. This year I also discovered the blend-y magic of Prismacolor pencils, so, colored pencils (both regular and watercolor) are also something I now love to use. I suppose I do some painting, with largely drawing elements in the things I create.

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So, for everyone who made it through, thanks very much for reading my "About Me" Questions!

To pick up some awesome Holiday Ornaments, please go to Patience Brewster's Holiday section of her website:

Sunday, September 20, 2015

My students at Barnsdall in the Spring, Summer, and Fall Sessions at 2015 did such a great job! I am super excited to have added Zine-Making (and Card-Tooning, since printing your own cards is also a DIY self-publishing activity (-; ) to my repertoire of Children's Classes that I teach over at Barnsdall. Making comics, making zines, and teaching kids are all things that mean a great deal to me. Helping people get their voices and art out there, especially at an art age, I think (and hope) is a valuable thing.

Each final class is a mini Zine Fest, and I wanted to recap the year with some snapshots of the micros, minis, and traditional zines they all drew, wrote, folded, and photocopied/stapled. I also loved the Cards they made that we got printed off site. I can't wait for next year's students and amazing works.

Great job Everyone! Hope everyone enjoys the photos and sneak peeks of their work from the Festival.

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Yay, I got my "Creative Tuesdays" dream piece in on time! Exciting :-D I am really sad I missed the Container Garden prompt (I've been collecting, drawing, and creating art/stories based on little Cacti and Succulents since the summer), and my original plan was to combine this prompt with that one as I missed that prompt.

But, time wise I was not able to plan out a complicated Cacti/Dream piece, so, I went with my go-theme in art/life/my brain. Which, was and ink and Tombo Pen Marker piece with Koalas. Or, a sleepy little Koala in this case ^_^

My "Dream" piece features this Marsupial dreaming of himself in British Bear wear, wearing the Beefeater Costume that one of my teddy bears from London has. I've been missing/dreaming of/wanting to go back to London (I went to school there for six months in 2005 and visited for a week in 2009 and really want to go again). It's also a dream of mine to travel more, and also specifically go to Australia (there would be so many great artistic things to see, and the chance to hold a breathing cuddly/possibly ferocious Koala would be the best), so, I decided to draw a little Koala dreaming of himself in London.

Another dream I have would be to have my phone properly working again )-: For some very strange reason, the camera has stopped functioning right. Which, is a big problem given having to photograph and post art online, but, moving on. Anyway, I played with the piece in photo editing software to try and fix the uneven-ness of the lighting from after my photographing my piece, so, I hope it's sufficiently clear. I'm not sure if anyone ever follows Astrological goings on, but, Mercury in Retrograde is approaching, and it's a notoriously bad time for all things electronic, so, I'm thinking I won't even try to think about fixing my phone until that time has passed.

When I'm back near a scanner I'll have to scan a higher and better resolution of this piece in. Dare I say, a Higher Koala-Ty (bwaaaaahahahaha), resolution of this piece? Sadly I can never resist a good (or awful) pun

Anyway, I am really glad to be back looking at everyone's wonderful C.T. work! Hope you guys have all been well, and that it is a week where your dreams come true.

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Hello, everyone! Below is my sketch for picnic, featuring my Echidna character, and my Raccoon character! Their picnic is in a Desert Garden:

Echidnas are spiky, hedgehog like animals from Australia. I've been working on a project with an Echidna character, and he makes friends with a raccoon. I managed to get a little ink sketch in for Creative Tuesdays, just in time!

It was fun to do a looser, fun cartoon with my characters, as what I've been working on is taking forever and all being done in pencil and Prismacolor pencil, and I love those mediums but they're not as free as ink sketching. For a #kidlit class project, as well as for myself, I've been drawing a story that features these two characters in a garden of Cacti. Just to give everyone a feel for what's been keeping me busy, I'm including one of the initial pencil drawings (pre coloring it in with Prismacolor) from the actual main story with Raccoon and Echidna, below:

They are playing in a Cacti garden. Or, Echidna was hiding, and she surprised/found him, so she's very excited and he's kind of stunned in place, thinking he was incognito (and wasn't).

So, the reason I got my C.T. entry in late, and am even behind in my above book project drawings, as this past weekend on August First it was my birthday! I had a lot of fun, and I saw "Phantom of the Opera" (my favorite musical, which I have seen... I can't keep track any more, at least eleven times, possibly fifteen? been seeing it since I was eleven), on my actual birthday. This is now the third time I've seen it actually on my birthday, so, that's exciting ^_^ I saw the touring production at the Los Angeles Pantages Theatre. I've seen it once before at the Pantages in 2009, and also seen it in New York, London, Orange County, and Las Vegas. I am a Phan with a capital P and H :-p

Anyway, this production was amazing and a lot different than the Broadway version (which is what's usually done; this new production changes a lot of stuff). The Phantom is usually shown as a dark but viable (despite some terrible things he does) romantic lead, but, this version actually really emphasized how scary a person he is. It was beautiful and sad and you still felt for him, but, this version would be less likely to send a young girl off idealizing someone who, well, shouldn't be idealized. Honestly, this darker/grittier/in some ways more realistic version of the show is something that it would have been better for me to see, back when I was a teen and on.

To sort of quote "Batman," this version of "Phantom" might not be the version I thought I deserved, but it is the version that I needed. I and my interpretation/idealization of the play and story has changed so much in the past ten years :-\ I'm now of the opinion Christine should choose neither romantic option (I find her fiance also problematic and somewhat controlling, as well as less charismatic than the Phantom for his many faults), and instead stick with her true love of singing, but, that will have to happen in some post-modern fanfiction and not onstage :-p The cast was all great, really nice, and we waited at the backstage door afterwards to get photos and autographs with them. That was very yay!

Anyway. I apologize! I'm now rambling and this has nothing to do with Creative Tuesdays (anyone who likes or has seen "Phantom" and would like to discuss it further I'm definitely up for that), but, between having a fun weekend with birthday stuff, being so hyped to see the play and then so caught up thinking about it afterwards/trying to get my main illustrations for homework for Echidna/Racoon done, I am glad got my C.T. drawing done, albeit last minute.

Hope you guys are well, and if you go on a real picnic, to remember to bring Water! In L.A. where I live and where I'm from in New York (where I visit every two months to see family), it is horribly hot, and drinking lots of water when it's crazy hot outside is always a must ^_^

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Been away at San Diego Comic Con, son forgive this quick and short and phone post from me.

My little critter is a monotreme! An Australian animal, like a platypus, but not. More hedgehog and anteater looking if anything. Anyway, my dude is doing Yoga. And hasn't gone in a while, so, it's hard :-p

Please check out everybody's work online! I will comment when I get on the computer.

To sign up before midnight tonight Pacific time, please go to Mister Toast's Blog at:

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Here I am with Australian Creatures, again! I have been swamped with projects/working on a personal project with a little Echidna (an Australian animal that looks like a Hedgehog Anteater), and so while I did not get the chance to break out my Prismacolors and sketch a bird from down under, I made a digital illustration using components of a watercolor and gouache illustration I'd done of a Kookaburra, a "little Twitter" from Oz who is a type of Kingfisher :-)

Since I digitally mirrored the original drawing of the bird, it ended up looking like two birds together. Playing around with color made it ultimately look like a crest, so, I gave it the word "The Kookaburra Kingfishers." Perhaps it's a family crest, for these little birds :-D When I get back to drawing, perhaps I'll have my Echidna meet one of these, or a Cassowary, or another winged Aussie Animal.

Okay, so, I barely got this in! Everyone interested in reading or posting for this avian theme of "Little Twitters," please sign up at Michael slash Mister Toast's blog at:

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Aqua For Creative Tuedays! Design wise, I was really inspired by the Cat Inspo Image Mr. Toast initially posted for this theme.

My watercolor and gouache piece has an Aqua Koala (Aqoala?), near water (also aqua), and an Aqua sky and clouds. There are a few cacti, just because I'm getting into, desert plants. Otherwise, this piece is mostly Aqua themed literally with water, and hue wise. Actually, I think my Aqoala looks slightly extraterrestrial-y. From Planet Marsupial!

Lastly, the piece has pops of magenta and a pink ground, as with this art also I wanted to give the aqua hues the chae to pop out against some complementing colors.

So, if you want to draw this Aqua theme, submit to C.T. by today Tuesday June 16th!

Monday, June 1, 2015

Above is my submission for this week's theme of orange. I more or less went with the use of orange as a color, although there is a tiny orange in part of this illustration, which was done in Prismacolor Color Pencils.

Pomeranians have orange fur, hence my doing a Pomeranian for this illustration challenge. In truth this illustration is inspired by my Pomeranian, who just passed away. She was not mine initially but mine through osmosis, and I consider my first dog. She had a very long happy life (fourteen human years), and she was very loved, she was very fluffy and sweet and silly, and sometimes, a huge princess. I love my other pets dearly but still miss this little lady very much.

Anyway, something she loved more than anything in the world was to eat. She liked to be cute, and then sometimes bratty, and either way bark and ultimately command treats. In this piece, she is dreaming of an orange, as well as an orange colored bone, piece of cheese, and chocolate chip cookie. She never did get chocolate chip cookies in life since its so bad for dogs, but luckily the cartoon immortal version of her can eat what she wants.

Lastly, this Prismacolor color pencil piece shows her sitting on an orange and blue rug, as I wanted to give orange the chance to pop against its complementary color.

So, if you want to I draw an orange or draw with orange the color, submit to C.T. by Tuesday June 2nd!

P.S. I hope I formatted this correctly although I am not using a computer and I'm using my phone as I am out of town visiting family. I also think and hope that the link went live from Mr Toast's blog, but if not, please copy and paste it into your browser so you can check it out!

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

So, I began this as a Fairy-Tale Birthday style tree (one that bloomed balloons), and I was drawing it at work Saturday on a break, and then my co-worker and good friend asked me to turn it into a full-blown Birthday Card. Yay, on the spot commission!

So, this is a Magical Koala-Ty Koala-Tree! Oh, me and my insane Marsupial puns. Anyway, the card was ultimately for my friend's friend with a two year old Baby, hence, the Koala Momma and Baby.

I think a tree that bloomed things, in addition to flowers, would be magical. A tree of teddy bears, a tree of hearts, etc. That's how I got the idea for a tree of Balloons, and, I'm glad it was well received enough to turn into a full greeting card and to get a new home ^_^ I did it with ink and watercolor.

Monday, May 4, 2015

Above is my submission for "C.T." and the theme of "Wet." Recently, I've gotten really into succulents, cacti, and desert plants. Lucky for them, many of those plants are largely drought tolerant. However, many other normal plants are not, presenting huge problems where I live (in L.A.).

So, I did this cute, although sad, Kawaii cartoon of a little Cacti trying to help his Flower friend to drink up, stay wet, and keep hydrated in the drought. It's an ink and Prismacolor Colored Pencil sketch in my Moleskine notebook.

I figured there isn't too much wet in this cartoon, but, unfortunately that's a bit of the case in general in California right now :-\ Less water showed more, in the case of the illustration on this situation.

Thursday, April 30, 2015

Yay! I've been really busy this past month, and excitingly, a lot of that is from education, comics related things, and making zines/getting to teach it to kids! I myself have been taking an illustration class at Art Center's "Art Center at Night" program, which is a lot of fun, and giving me inspiration for lessons with my own students.

I have also started teaching a new course, in addition to "The Art of Cartooning," at Barnsdall Art Park. It's called "Card-tooning and Zine-Making," and it's a course for kids who want to self publish their own zines, as well as card/art content!

Below is a sample from the first lesson, which I hope people find useful! It's an introduction of how to make a class anthology and use themes (which came after my showing them how to fold mini zines, which, I think I've finally mastered). The kids' anthology is really cool, and has a great mix of art and writing, all mixed together. The activity I list in there about how to make up your own character/monster, by picking various ones out of a hat, is also a fun one to try. Anyway, scroll down for a peek of what the zinester kids have learned:

And lastly, speaking of students, I did a workshop while tabling at Long Beach Zine Fest on April 24th. It was a lot of fun and the kids/baby zinesters/artists were awesome, and came up with great character drawings. I do not have any photos of my workshop during the event, but here's a shot of me making a silly face at my table.

Sunday, April 12, 2015

So, this theme for "Creative Tuesdays" is happiness. And not necessarily long-term happiness, but, things that make one happy in the moment.

Bright colors make me happy, both looking at them and painting or drawing with them, and so my submission for C.T. is one I've worked on for a class I'm taking, because making this picture has been something that makes me happy. Plus, the imagery in it is connected to things I find cute/like to look at, which create a fleeting moment of happiness and a smile, even though it may not be as profound as something like meditating. I also like working with mixed-media, and it made me happy to do that for this piece (using Prismacolor, watercolor, gouache, and acrylic).

Plus, looking at the prints and designs in Japanese pop culture fashion (called Lolita fashion) is something that I find fun, even if not a huge happiness in the zen, overall life and meaning sense. So, another part of this happy picture I've created has to do with being lighthearted, and fun.

So, looking at Anime Images/Fashion/Bright Colors are what makes me happy, for this theme. And creating them, too-- and it's more about it being a fun art piece, than necessarily one which illustrates something serious.

This is going to be cut up and turned into a handmade book, which can then be taken apart to form this poster image on this side. Should be interesting to see if it works.

(Also, Koalas and Puns, especially this one of "Koala-Tea" that I use all the time make me happy, but that I found too big of a happiness for the small moment/temporary themed happiness of this challenge-- and marsupials/Australian animals in general-- the things in this image that aren't Koalas are Bilbies, which are endangered, and a sort of combination of a Rabbit and Bandicoot).

And now, it's time for links! If you want to see everyone's entries for "Happy," head on over to Mister Toast's Blog! He's the great guy behind this very fun collective:

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Here's my Creative Tuesdays Entry for Flower, the theme of this week. I painted it late last night, after being inspired from experimenting using graphite and watercolor together at a figure drawing session. These flowers are all watercolor, Blocx pan watercolors to be exact.

I think it's kind of morphed into an odd bouquet on its own (which is actually the theme for our next challenge), as my original idea was to sort of have a single Koala popping out of a rose, but I wanted to then do other flowers surrounding the first flower. It sort of now looks like a strange but fun flower arrangement, meant to look like a Koala. My favorite toy is named Fuzzles the Koala, and this looks like a Fuzzle Flower.

In very important news, Mister Toast and Alex (two of the great artists behind Creative Tuesdays) have a GoFundMe page that I encourage people to check out and donate to. Alex's brother has had some terrible, tragic circumstances, and deserves for things to go up/could really use the help:

I myself am going to make sure I donate, as well as read everyone else's flower posts, I am hoping tomorrow (Wednesday) or Thursday. I'm running out of w ork right now and will not be back on the computer, but I wanted to make sure everyone saw that link in hopes that they can give something or spread the word.

As far as C.T. goes, you can post your flower creation up until Midnight tonight. Head on over to the link below:

Monday, March 9, 2015

This is a quick post to go over some current #wip pieces. Well, they're more than #wips as they have largely already been finished, but, they are new releases self-publish or card or comic wise, and I am posting just to show an overview. For starters, I am posting my Elephant Shrew in Thai Elephant's clothing-- a new little character I plan on having in cartoon cards and prints, and having some of his own stories.

The following comics and prints will be available (knock on wood) at the upcoming inaugural Long Beach Zine Fest! A few were available at L.A. Zine Fest last month, and the new material will also be available in April, on the 12th at the event down at MoLAA.

Next, are some clips from my new comic "Lonely," to be published eventually as a webcomic, and also currently a self-published minicomic. Family trauma and trauma, with some surreal elements, and, well, raccoons.

To break up the sadder elements of the above comic, below is a page from my new Pun sketchbook of comic art I self-published, which is also a greeting card. Make sure you Seize the Day when you can. Shar-Pei Diem. And, well, seize your dog if he or she is floating up up and away, with the help of an Anime themed umbrella.

Next up are some more sneak peeks, from my new self-published "How To Draw" comic zines for kids. The two samples below focus specifically on character design.

Next is a shot of a new print I'm releasing, of an Indian Bollywood dancer mixed with a Black Swan dancer. She too is also being made into an illustrated story sketchbook/comic, given her swan and morphing dance abilities. She's a perform-y superhero.

Annnnd, last but not least, some more sneak peeks from my new Pun-Up sketchbook, which are also available as cartoon greeting cards.

Friday, March 6, 2015

I've posted this on IG before, but it's relevant for this I.F. theme, on which I am so behind, yipes. Haven't posted in forever. In any case, this is a path home, shadowed by various darkness with the house (metaphorical and otherwise), as well as the looming presence of past (knock on wood) interlopers. Specifically, raccoons.

I often post links, so, here is a link to something I update more regularly than my blog, I'm over at www.instagram.com/drawdvl

And known it's time for some links! I am hoping I post these correctly and that they actually become live links-- but if as I am posting via mobile they do not, please forgive me. At least it will definitely be possible to copy and paste those links, then read them.

Below is the link to post to this week's Creative Tuesdays theme of "Under The Leaves."

Thanks for reading, and looking forward to everyone's work (-: I'm still playing catch up on last week's entries too, so I will make sure I leave comments on last week's and this week's work everyone did -D.

Monday, February 16, 2015

Hello, C.T.-ers! I am so swamped, so I won't write as much as usual (even though I'll probably ramble), but I made sure to do a Doodle from the heart, and on the theme of this week's theme, "Pillow." Something I feel like I don't have much contact with anymore, and that I didn't wish I had to! In other words, sleep is over-rated, but, I cannot avoid it.

Below is a portrait of myself as a Koala (looking an awful lot like my Stuffed Toy, Fuzzles The Koala), in my current mode. I just did a Zine (meaning self published Comic or Magazine) fair this past weekend, which went great and I'm really grateful for the experience-- but it took forever to prepare for, and there are more I'm interested in/have to apply to.

I spent all day today writing comic book lesson plans (luckily I had the day off to get things done), as I'm teaching at four centers right now, afterschool program wise. Excited about the lessons, I just wish there were enough hours in the day. And, I have homework to do for that art class I'm taking, hence the spilled ink-- and, that the Koala collapsed before even getting to sleep on her Precious Pillow. "So close, and yet so far," in so many ways. (I downloaded this great packet called "The Focused Creator," and it's all about Time Management for people working in the arts... and I totally need to make time to read it, and actually implement it. Oopsie face.)

In any case, I will get to looking at everybody's work tomorrow, knock on wood! Thanks for providing a great theme, and I hope to do a more detailed one next time. I did use my last bout of energy to draw this cartoon, before falling at the base of my pillow myself ^_^

Monday, February 2, 2015

So, my "Around the World" is a duel purpose piece and it is actually huge (usually I work on small-ish illustrations, small cards, and comic pages, which range between 3"x5" to notebook size to 11"x17" but not too much huger than that), 50" tall and 38" wide. Still untitled, but phone photo (and one zoomed in detail) below. I did it with a combination of some sketch placement with blue pencil, but a lot of it organically coming out with Pentel Brush Pen, and actually painting with a brush from a pot of ink.

It's an illustration I created, where the biggest part of the "Around the World" part to me is the Bollywood dance aspect of it (one of my best friends dances in an internationally touring Bollywood dance company, and while seeing her perform in New York has been great, I'd love to go overseas and see her/such dancing, too), but the ballet and more hip music parts of it also make me think of going around the world (Russia, for ballet, and America, hip music parts-wise).

Around the same time this challenge was proposed, a class I'm taking on Tuesday nights had the homework assignment of creating an illustration based on three combined genres of music. I was inspired by Bhangra (Bollywood dance music), Romantic Classical (read: Basically Ballet music; this was my excuse to do something with Tchaikovsky, slash, "Swan Lake," as I have an obsession with that ballet and the film "Black Swan"), and, Techno.

These different music and dance forms inspire me because I love the dance aspects that go with them, and culturally all three have different relevance. In America, it's great to let loose and have fun at a party and dance to a Techno song, in India there's a lot of cultural and historical significance to Bhangra (and the dance form itself is amazing to watch), and "Swan Lake" is performed worldwide, but I got lucky enough to see the Bolshois from Russia perform it a couple of years back when they came to Los Angeles, and, I think the Russian cast did that ballet the best of any cast I've ever seen do it. Again, probably because of the cultural/historical significance.

So, for C.T., I thought this piece fit the theme of "Around the World," as it's a character of Fusion, whose perhaps traveled around the world to learn these various dance forms, so she can stand en pointe, do the traditional and beautiful movements of Bhangra, listen to her iPod as she dances, and think nothing of it as the Swan Lake Swans are born out of her. For me personally, I love world travel and going new places. I'd love to travel around the world and see these dance pieces in person.
Plus, I am taking this continuing education class that this piece was homework for, in an attempt to broaden my world, become a stronger illustrator, and if I'm lucky, be able to use those skills when I do travel, so I can create art when traveling/do a better job of it.

So, now that I've written a mini-novel, I will sign off. I hope my concept for "Around The World" wasn't too conceptual, and I appreciate everyone tuning in my blog. Looking forward to seeing everyone else's work, and hope everyone had a great couple of weeks!

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Hello, Everyone! Happy 2015, Again :-D This week's challenge for "Creative Tuesdays" was to pick a word for 2015. I'm including a sketchbook illustration I did based on my one main word.

First, is my main submission for C.T., with the theme and word, "Persevere."

In my little drawing, my Koala is pushing along (and wearing a brace), and trying to "Persevere," even if things are difficult. Hearts and swirls are coming out of his efforts, so even though it's tough, something positive is coming out of it.

I think trying to "Persevere" is one of the hardest things to do in life, and in art, when there are constant daily difficulties of stress, work, illness, injury, family and friend issues, unforeseen obstacles, and all the rest of it. But I don't know an alternative to attempting to keep going, which is why I am telling myself that my theme and word for this year, and for this challenge, is, to "Persevere."

Or, for those of you who also love Cartoons and Animation (and have seen this favorite Pixar film of mine), here's how Dory of "Finding Nemo" says the same thing:

Anyway. That's all for me for now!

But to see what others wrote for their C.T. 2015 Word entries, which is due today, please head over to Mister Toast's blog entry at:

Monday, January 5, 2015

So, my post is not actually for the holiday of New Year's or New Year's Eve, but, it's on theme for "RINGING IN THE NEW YEAR," as drawing this illustration was how I spent my NYE, and actually literally ringing in (doodling and painting in?) the new year. Since working on making more cards is a goal of mine in general, and Valentine's Day is the next big card-y holiday coming up, I want to ring in the New Year by doing more work and prepping for such holidays ^_^ With Punny Card-Toons!

I just landed back in L.A. as I type this, from having been visiting family in N.Y.C., and I am quite tired, but I will try and describe my card a little. This card, "You Are TuTu Fabulous, Valentine!" has a silly ballet related pun, and as a bonus, these fabulous dancing ladies have a little Pug ballerina. Who, let's be honest, is wrinkly and fabulous and may just beat out her human friends for that starring role in "Swan Lake," or, "The Nutcracker."

While the pug is not the Chinese New Year animal (the Sheep for 2015), this is a note to myself to draw a cute HNY sheep at some point, and also, just commenting that I was happy to spend the New Year transition while doodling one of my favorite acitivites (dance) alongside one of my favorite creatures (wrinkly dogs, and Pugs, in particular-- although you all know I love Shar-Peis as well).

Hello There! About Me

Here's my blog! When I've the time, I post here. Sometimes writing and random thoughts, but mostly with updates on projects, art fairs, and submissions to the many cool art challenges online.
I'm a New Yorker, who loves London, who lives in Los Angeles. Otherwise, I am an artist, illustrator, and freelance writer who is also a "cardtoonist." Which means, I create handmade cartoon cards- and often caption them with puns inside. I also do sequential work and contributed a story to the "Samurai Graphic Novel" anthology, released in early 2011, with info here: http://tinyurl.com/samuraigraphicnovel.
Please say hello! donna.v.letterese@gmail.com